In 1999 Peter Wang was appointed CEO of Tristate Holdings Limited (HKG:458). First, this article will compare CEO compensation with compensation at similar sized companies. After that, we will consider the growth in the business. And finally we will reflect on how common stockholders have fared in the last few years, as a secondary measure of performance. The aim of all this is to consider the appropriateness of CEO pay levels.

View our latest analysis for Tristate Holdings

How Does Peter Wang's Compensation Compare With Similar Sized Companies?

Our data indicates that Tristate Holdings Limited is worth HK$448m, and total annual CEO compensation was reported as HK$5.5m for the year to December 2018. It is worth noting that the CEO compensation consists almost entirely of the salary, worth HK$5.4m. We took a group of companies with market capitalizations below HK$1.6b, and calculated the median CEO total compensation to be HK$1.8m.

As you can see, Peter Wang is paid more than the median CEO pay at companies of a similar size, in the same market. However, this does not necessarily mean Tristate Holdings Limited is paying too much. We can better assess whether the pay is overly generous by looking into the underlying business performance.

You can see a visual representation of the CEO compensation at Tristate Holdings, below.

Is Tristate Holdings Limited Growing?

Over the last three years Tristate Holdings Limited has grown its earnings per share (EPS) by an average of 7.3% per year (using a line of best fit). In the last year, its revenue is up 34%.

It's great to see that revenue growth is strong. And in that context, the modest EPS improvement certainly isn't shabby. I'd stop short of saying the business performance is amazing, but there are enough positives to justify further research, or even adding the stock to your watch-list. We don't have analyst forecasts, but you could get a better understanding of its growth by checking out this more detailed historical graph of earnings, revenue and cash flow.

Has Tristate Holdings Limited Been A Good Investment?

Since shareholders would have lost about 11% over three years, some Tristate Holdings Limited shareholders would surely be feeling negative emotions. This suggests it would be unwise for the company to pay the CEO too generously.

In Summary...

We examined the amount Tristate Holdings Limited pays its CEO, and compared it to the amount paid by similar sized companies. We found that it pays well over the median amount paid in the benchmark group.

Over the last three years, shareholder returns have been downright disappointing, and the underlying business has failed to impress us. Considering this, we have the opinion that the CEO pay is more on the generous side, than the modest side. If you think CEO compensation levels are interesting you will probably really like this free visualization of insider trading at Tristate Holdings.